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Reykjavik and Blue Lagoon

Continuing with my blog series on Iceland, this one focuses on Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital and only city. All roads in Iceland lead to Reykjavik and this is the first place that almost everyone will go to once they land in Iceland. So it is best to know what Reykjavik has to offer for the visitor.

Reykjavik is the northernmost capital city in the world. Although a city, Reykjavik doesn’t look like most cities with it’s colourful houses and lack of skyscrapers. Iceland only has a population of 330,000 people and around 80% of them live in Reykjavik and it’s surrounding region, often referred to as the Capital Region. The center of Reykjavik is the oldest part of the city and also where most of the attractions are located. Reykjavik is really small, but you won’t feel crowded in because of the small population. In fact, tourists probably out-number the residents during peak season.

Most visitors use Reykjavik as their base to start tours, since most of the essential services are located here like banks, car rentals, tour companies and supermarkets. Of course there are the hotels and restaurants too which we can’t go without. But first things first, getting to Reykjavik.

Getting There

The international Airport is at Keflavik which is around 50km south west of Reykjavik. All international flights will land here and visitors have to get to Reykjavik by bus or taxi. Most people will take the Grayline or Flybus express bus services from the airport and they run door-to-door drop offs to most of the hotels, apartments and hostels. The express bus service runs every 45 minutes to 1 hour. There is also a taxi stand where you can take a taxi to Reykjavik instead. Taxis run by meter in Iceland and are expensive. Car rentals are in Reykjavik, but they can arrange for you to pick up your rental car at the airport for a fee.

We also found out that the shops and money changer on the transit area on the second floor of the airport only serves departing passengers. Once they knew that we were arriving passengers, they didn’t allow us to buy anything or change money. I find it strange but this has something to do with the country still under capital controls since the 2008 financial crisis. The shops in the transit area are duty free so no VAT is charged, only departing passengers get to enjoy this benefit, while the money changer in the transit area is for departing visitors to change all their leftover ISK (Icelandic Kroner) to any of the major currencies.

The money changer for arriving visitors is at the ground floor of the airport after exiting the luggage claim and near the Airport Express counters. But there is usually a long queue as almost every arriving passenger will go there to change their money to ISK. There is also a convenience store around the corner and it sells SIM cards for voice and data for your smartphone. If you don’t have time, you can actually change your money and buy the SIM card in Reykjavik.

We booked the Grayline bus service online and reserved our seats based on our flight timing and date. Those people waiting down there are those that booked the bus service only when they landed. It may seem like nothing, but this was during winter when the outside temperature is below freezing, while I was sitting in a nice warm bus. There is also a public bus service but you then have to wait in the open at the bus stop and the public bus does not run as regularly as the express bus services.We arrived in Iceland at 4pm and by the time we set off from Keflavik, it was 5pm. The Sun was already setting behind Keflavik Airport as it was winter. Although the Sun sets early, the twilight hours are quite long at around 2 hours where the sky is still not dark.

The bus journey from Keflavik to Reykjavik takes around an hour. I do not know about Flybus, but for Grayline which we took, they have free Wifi onboard. What a godsend for smartphone junkies like us. For the door-to-door service, we had to transfer to smaller buses which are able to pass through the narrow streets in Reykjavik. It’s faster and makes sense, otherwise it will take too long just for 1 bus to go round to the hotels of each traveler.

Transferring to smaller buses which will then bring us to our lodgings.

Where to Stay

There are many options for visitors to stay in Reykjavik ranging from 5 star hotels to hostels and AirBnB. All of them are not cheap in my opinion. The cost of living here is the same as any Nordic country, and by Asian standards that is very expensive. For ourselves, we booked a service apartment with attached kitchen so that we could save some money by buying food from the supermarket and eating in. Eating out in Reykjavik or anywhere in Iceland is pretty expensive. As a guide, a standard hotel room will cost you around SGD150 onwards. Hostels with shared kitchen and bathrooms are around SGD50 a night. I met some Singaporeans who booked an AirBnB apartment for around SGD250 a night for 4 persons in a nice condo. If you are travelling in a group then AirBnB or service apartments are a more economical choice.

Our service apartment is the white building located behind the church. It’s conveniently located and only 10 minutes walk to Reykjavik town center.Our comfy home away from home for our stay in Iceland. The furniture are mostly from Ikea and it does remind me of an Ikea showroom.The rather small but well equipped kitchen and the very utilitarian bathroom. Again all very Ikea showroom looking.By the time we settled down and cooked our dinner, it was already almost 7pm. The sky was still light although the Sun had set at 5.30pm. Overnight it snowed and we woke up to a White Christmas scene.

One of the things that visitors notice is that Iceland prides itself as a green country. This is quite evident in the generous use of geothermal power everywhere. One of the most unique thing is the use of geothermally heated water for heating and bathing. I must say that the water here is the cleanest and freshest I’ve have used and you can drink it straight out of the tap. The hot water is also used to run the heaters in the apartment and also serves to heat the floor in the bathroom and towel rack. It really makes it more comfortable than standing on a freezing floor when you step out of the shower. Because of geothermal power, there is very little or no burning of fossil fuels, except for the cars. Electrical power is generated through geothermal and hydropower. Hence, electricity and heating are extremely cheap here.

The very informative sign in our apartment’s bathroom. Yes, there is that slight rotten egg smell when the hot water runs. I can never really get used to that. I could feel the difference after bathing, the water is really fresh and not hard like in some places. My hair and skin also feels soft and smooth… ok, it’s beginning to sound like some shampoo advertisement.

Essential Services

Most of the important services like banks, shops, restaurants, car rentals, tourist information can be found in Reykjavik’s town center. We did not managed to change our currency to ISK at the airport as our bus was leaving. We had wasted time inside the airport at the duty free shop and money changer in the transit area before finding out that we were not allowed to buy or change money as an arriving visitor.

The Tourist Information center in the city center. There is another Tourist Information Center along the main shopping street, Laugavegur. Here, you can change money, book tours, get car rentals, buy maps, get information pamphlets, ask for advice, hotel bookings, etc. It’s also the place to the most updated information on road conditions if you are renting a car.There is 1 large bank in the city center and I changed my money there. They only accept major currencies and SGD is not one of them. I used British pounds as I was going to stop over in London on the way back.

I don’t have a photo of the laundry but it’s very unmistakable, it’s called the Laundromat Café. Yes, I thought it was a restaurant at first and it’s always crowded. Because the people in there are all sitting and eating while waiting for their laundry to be done. There is also a 24hr convenience store nearby but the prices there are more expensive than if you buy from Iceland’s equivalent of our NTUC Fairprice, which is called Bonus. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Bonus supermarket in the city center, but there is one a short walk towards Hallgrimskirkja, the big church that you can’t miss. The convenience store does sell SIM cards for voice/data and we bought ours here.

What to See

Being small in area, you can virtually walk or cycle within Reykjavik. There is really no need for a car unless you are planning to drive out of the city. Most of the attractions are located near the town center or the Old Harbour.

The Pond which is located right next to my service apartment. It’s a small lake and it was frozen over during winter. Everyday people could be seen walking on the ice, which was always covered with a fresh layer of snow.A really winter scene by The Pond.A small portion of The Pond is kept unfrozen by letting in hot water so that the ducks and geese can roost there. How thoughtful. And you can see the snow falling again in this photo.A happy goose. This photo was taken on another day when it was sunny.Parliament House where the Icelandic government meets. This is just beside The Pond on it’s northern end.

Reykjavik also seems to present itself as a city of art, and you can find works of art like sculptures and graffiti on walls as you walk along it’s streets. Some of these statues are quite quirky and you can find some of them all over the city.

The Unknown Bureaucrat sculpture is found between the Pond and Parliament House. It signifies the insignificance of the worker and the rock of everyday life crushing down on him.Some of the colourful wall paintings along the street towards the Old Harbour.More graffiti art along the streets.The houses in Reykjavik are quite colourful and adds to the art city vibe.Perhaps the most famous sculpture in Reykjavik is the Solfar or Sun Voyager. This is a popular spot for taking photos especially during mornings and evenings.The latest addition to the art scene is the Harpa. It’s an arts and performance center and its outer glass panels change colour when light hits it at different angles. The building was only just opened in 2011.A statue of Arnarholl who first settled Iceland in 874AD stands on top of a small hill just beside the city center. Children were using the snow covered hill slopes to sleigh down the hill.

From the city center, you can walk towards the hill with the Arnarholl statue. From here the main shopping street of Laugavegur starts. To call Laugavegur a shopping street is really an overstatement. It can’t really compare to other shopping streets in big cities like Champs Elysees, Fifth Avenue or Orchard Road. The high VAT also makes shopping not a big hit here especially for those that like to shop. We did buy their Merino woolen winter wear which really keeps you warm compared to the substandard winter wear that we buy at outrageous prices in Singapore. If you are looking out for good quality winter clothes for your future trips, then this is the place to buy them. After all, who does winter clothes better than the people who live in Iceland. If you really need to shop, you can save your money until you leave Iceland and buy at the duty free shops in the airport. They have almost everything that you can find in Reykjavik and at tax free prices.

A short walk up Laugavegur, the road splits and you can see Hallgrimskirkja.

Hallgrimskirkja is the most prominent landmark in Reykjavik. You can see it from almost anywhere in the city. It is also probably one of the tallest buildings here.A statue of Leifur Eiríksson stands in front of Hallgrimskirkja. He was the first Viking who discovered America. This statue was a gift from the USA to Iceland.Another view of Hallgrimskirkja and the statue of Leifur Eiríksson in his very heroic pose. Hallgrimskirkja is a Lutheran church and took 41 years to build (1945-1986).The structure was designed to look like the basalt lava columns that can be found throughout Iceland.The church building looks impressive from outside, but the interior is actually very spartanly furnished by comparison.

Visitors can take an elevator up to the top of the tower for a small fee of ISK700 (around SGD7). There’s only 1 elevator (which moves very slowly) and the queue can be quite long. I did see people join the queue without paying and nobody checked if we had tickets before going up. Once at the top of the tower, we still had to climb a few flights of stairs to the viewing deck. But the sight is well worth the wait and effort.

I found The Pond and the church steeple which indicates the location of our service apartment.The Pearlan, a revolving restaurant built on top of 5 hot water storage tanks. Visitors can get a good view from there too, but we didn’t managed to visit the place. It’s not near the city center and you have to take a bus or taxi there.Looking towards the northeast where the new suburbs are with modern hotels and condos being built and where a new downtown is taking shape.Looking down at the statue of Leifur Eiríksson and the road that leads down to the city center and Old Harbour.

As we moved from exploring the city center, we invariably found ourselves walking to the Old Harbour. The Old Harbour is historical as Reykjavik started as a fishing port and fishery is still one of the biggest industries here. This is also the place where most of the activities take place like the whale and puffin watching tours. There are also many restaurants, museums and hotels along the harbour walk. Since it was winter, the puffin watching tours were not running. The whale watching tours were still on but the chances of seeing whales are lower than in summer.

There are 2 major whale watching tour companies; Special Tours and Elding. I think that both of them are the same and you can just pick anyone which pleases you better. We tried both of them anyway.

A big map by the Old Harbour.There are bicycle rentals along the Old Harbour but they were not operating during the winter months.Some of the boats were dry docked for the winter.The whale watching dock where the various whale watching companies have their sales offices. You can buy your tickets there and board the boats further down by the dock.The whale watching boats. During the night they operate as Northern Lights watching cruises.Unused rental bicycles belonging to the Icelandair Marina Hotel. I wanted to book this hotel initially but it was full (even in winter which is a low season).So we found ourselves on a whale watching cruise. It sounds very exciting at first…But we only saw a pod of dolphins, and very soon the excitement wore off and most of the people were below decks to get out of the freezing wind.Sea birds are a sign of whales of dolphins as they feed on the leftover fish that are eaten by the leviathans.We could see steam from the geothermal hot springs that give rise to Reykjavik’s name. In Icelandic Reykjavik means Smoky Bay and the name came about because of the smoke from the hot springs around the area.

So what could you do if you don’t get to see whales on a cruise. The next best thing is to visit the Whale Museum which is further down from the Old Harbour. We actually visited this place on our second day in Reykjavik before taking any whale watching tour.

Just past the Old Harbour is the Whale Museum. This road leads to the more industrial part of the harbour.The Whale Museum. It’s interesting but I found the entrance fee pricey just to look at static displays of whales.They are life size replicas of all the whales in Iceland – blue whale, humpback whale, killer whale, sperm whale, you name it, they have it. The replicas are made from special foam and the texture and feel is exactly like a real whale. Of course there are signs that tell you not to touch the displays, but then…There are a couple of real whale skeletons here. One hangs in the main entrance as you enter and the other is here above the bar. The ticket price includes free flow tea/coffee at the bar so make sure you drink up before leaving.

Just off Reykjavik is Viðey Island. It’s pronounced as Videy Island and let’s stick to that. This is a small island that is open to visitors in summer with regular ferry schedules. In winter it’s closed and we could only get there when we took a Northern Lights cruise, and they stopped over for us to take photos of the Northern Lights.

On Videy Island, we couldn’t see it with our naked eyes, but a long exposure caught faint Aurora activity. Walking on uneven and frozen ground in the dark freezing night while carrying camera gear isn’t one of my favourite activities.The Imagine Peace Memorial which was built in memory of John Lennon by Yoko Ono is also located on Videy Island. It’s lighted up and shoots a tower of light into the sky on special dates like John Lennon’s birthday and his death anniversary.

During the weekends there is a small flea market that takes place near the Old Harbour. However, I find that this is really a disappointment and it doesn’t compare to major flea markets like Chatuchak in Bangkok. However, feel free to browse through and you might find something interesting there.

The weekend flea market is in the white building in the background. It occupies the whole ground floor.It took us just 10 minutes to walk through really slowly.Old Icelandic language books if you are interested.

What to Eat

There are many restaurants in Reykjavik and you would be really spoiled for choice depending on what you fancy. However, eating out is expensive here. A standard main dish will cost anywhere from SGD25-SGD50 at a normal priced restaurant. For higher end restaurants expect to pay around SGD80 for a main dish and SGD150 onwards for a 3 course meal. That’s why it probably makes sense to cook your own meals in an apartment. For Asian visitors who cannot do without their Chinese food and rice, you mostly out of luck here. We didn’t see any Asian restaurants in the city center. However, we did see a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant located in the new downtown area which is east of Reykjavik city center. I’m sure there is a Chinese restaurant somewhere, but we just didn’t see it.

The Icelanders have their own food specialties like the salted herring that you can buy in the supermarket. Fish are the main source of protein and red meat is mostly from sheep which they rear, and there is the occasional horse meat, and not to mention whale and puffin meat which gets served in restaurants. Water is served free in every restaurant that we went to, and they will set a big bottle of water on your table which is refillable, after all it comes from the tap.

The cheapest food you can find is the famous hotdog stand which is across from the weekend flea market. A hotdog and Coke costs ISK700 (SGD7). The locals and tourists were all coming here to get their hotdog fix.The hotdogs are actually made from lamb meat and not pork. It’s really quite delicious with the garlic and mustard that they put on top of it and serves as fast, cheap meal. While we sat there eating, some of the local taxi drivers stopped by for a quick bite.At one of the buffet restaurants in the city center you can try out whale meat. Definitely not for the squeamish or environmentalist. Whale meat is served in some of the restaurants usually as an appetizer, especially near the Old Harbour. It has the taste and texture of beef but is more tender, like venison.While eating out is expensive in Iceland, it doesn’t mean that you should live like a pauper while on holiday. If you have to splurge on just 1 meal then I recommend the Fishmarket (Fiskmarkadurinn). This is a high end restaurant that is highly recommended on Tripadvisor. They serve fish from sashimi to European styles. Make a reservation first as it gets crowded during dinner. We didn’t make a reservation and had to wait for more than an hour to get a table by the kitchen bar, which was quite cool actually, as we could see the chefs preparing the food. Be prepared to pay up to SGD200+ per person.

The Blue Lagoon

No, this is not that movie of Brooke Shields swimming naked in some tropical island lagoon, and which some of us watched secretly on VHS when we were kids. This is actually a famous hot spring spa located actually nearer to Keflavik Airport than to Reykjavik. In fact, you can stopover for a soak at the Blue Lagoon when coming from the airport to Reykjavik or vice versa, and this an option when you book with the bus companies. It’s nice to soak and relax in a hot spring especially if you have just spent the last few hours stuck in a plane. This can be an good choice especially if you arrive in the morning and have to wait until afternoon to check into your hotel. While the Blue Lagoon is technically not in Reykjavik, it’s easily accessible with many buses running regular trips.

The path from the carpark to the Blue Lagoon cuts through a volcanic lava field.Taking a quick photo before I had to run in my swimming trunks in 0°C to the warm water. The water is kept at a comfortable 39°C. The hot spring is actually heated sea water and not fresh water like what you find in other hot springs.The Blue Lagoon is not natural. It is actually formed from waste water that discharges from the geothermal power plant that is in the background.After soaking in the Blue Lagoon, you can explore the area around it. There are footpaths that go around the Blue Lagoon and you can see pools of discharged waste water around you. If you didn’t know better, you would have thought all these are natural hot springs.

The entry fee to the Blue Lagoon is not cheap either. Prices start from €40 for the standard package which just includes admission and a facial mask. As it was winter we decided to take the premium package which includes a bathrobe and slippers. The bathrobe was to keep ourselves warm as we walked from the changing room to the hot springs in freezing temperature. In summer I don’t think that the premium package is necessary unless you want the other benefits that it includes like a free drink at the lagoon bar and a reserved table at their premium restaurant. You can say that the Blue Lagoon is touristy and expensive, but it’s well worth a visit as there is no other place like it on Earth. The only other place that could come close to this are the large communal onsens in Japan.

The Blue Lagoon is not natural, by the way. The water for the hot spring actually comes from the geothermal power plant nearby, where seawater after being heated by molten lava underground is pumped through the turbines and discharged to cool down. Someone discovered that the water has curative properties due to the minerals dissolved in it, and is good for curing skin ailments. Soon people got to know about it and the Blue Lagoon was born. But if you think that paying a premium to soak in the waste water discharge from a power plant sounds ridiculous, then you can actually soak in one of the public hot springs in Reykjavik itself. They are either free or charge a small fee. Of course there are no spa facilities there.

It’s a lesson in being Green and how Icelanders could turn waste water from a power plant into a tourist attraction. Besides the hot spring, they also sell their Blue Lagoon brand skincare and cosmetics which I find pricey. For meals, there is the upscale Lava Restaurant which requires a table reservation and serves fine dining. Then there is the economy option which is a café/bar that serves light food like sandwiches. When we were there they were building a new hotel, so in future visitors could just stay there overnight. If you want to visit the Blue Lagoon it’s advised to book your tickets a few days in advance as they allow only a limited number of guests per day and it gets full very fast. You can book it online together with the bus transportation from Reykjavik if you don’t have your own car. The price of the ticket allows you to stay the whole day so you can come in the morning and stay till the evening when it closes. There are tour options where you can soak in the Blue Lagoon while watching the Northern Lights above. Wow!

This is one place I have long dreamed about. Met one of my very good friends from Iceland in Beijing of all places…and we met in Europe a few times but I’ve yet to make it to Iceland. While I love the opening shot and the great perspective and colors in the sky, the houses you showed in your photos of Reykjavik are quite curious and they do give off a colorful/artful vibe. Great post ~ thank you!